“In Iraq, we went to war on the basis of lies originally uttered by fakers and conmen. Now it’s war by YouTube. This doesn’t mean that the terrible images of the gassed and dying Syrian civilians are false. It does mean that any evidence to the contrary is going to have to be suppressed. For example, no-one is going to be interested in persistent reports in Beirut that three Hezbollah members – fighting alongside government troops in Damascus – were apparently struck down by the same gas on the same day, supposedly in tunnels. They are now said to be undergoing treatment in a Beirut hospital. So if Syrian government forces used gas, how come Hezbollah men might have been stricken too? Blowback?”

“I read that the US ambassador in Lebanon condemned the car bomb in Ruways in the southern suburbs of Beirut. But I remembered that back in 1985 the Reagan administration had condemned the car bomb in Bi’r Al-`Abd which targeted Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah. Later Bob Woodward revealed that the bomb was planted by the US and funded by the Saudi government.”

Although Hezbollah is a long-term ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, ordinary Hezbollah supporters say it is the threat from Sunni extremism that is the main reason the militia is fighting in Syria.

“It was not a sacrifice for Bashar al-Assad…Muhammad al-Siblani’s sister Nur…said of his decision to fight. “He went because he knew these Takfiris would come one day to his house, his family and his friends, and slaughter them as they did in Qusair.”

“To undermine Iran…the Bush Administration…has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran.”

“Condoleezza Rice…pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah…have made their choice…to destabilize.””

Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House…It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s who they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.”